Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1887-12-24

ing in its dim recess small bed lie stoo,
there mo nent looking at tho company, his
bare feet peeping from the blanket, and
nodded
"Eello, Johnny You aint goin' to turn IN
agin, are ye" said Dick.
ayes, are" responded Johnny, decidedly
"Why, wot's up, old fellowr
"Im sick"
"How sickw
ave got FEWER. And chilblains. And
roomatiz," returned Johnny and vanished
within. After a moments pause he added M
the dark, apparently from under the bed
clothes, "And biles."
There was an embarrassing silence The
men looked at each other, and at the fire.
Even with the appetizing banquet before
them it seemed as il they might again fall
into the dependency of Thompson's grocery,
when the voice Of the Old Man, incantiously
lifted, came deprecatingly from the kitchen
Certainly Thet's so. In course they is
A gang o lazy. drunken loafers and that al
Dick Bullen's the ornariest Of all. Didn't
hev no more sabe than to come round var
with sickness i'll the house and no provision.
Thet's what said. 'Bullen,' seq l, it's crazy
drunk you are, or FOOL sez l, to think o.
such thing Staples seq, be you man.
Staples, and 'spect to raise hi under my
roof, and invalids lynn roundr But they
would come-they would. Thets wot you
must 'spect o such trash as lays round the
Bar"
A burst of laughter from the men followed
this unfortunate exposure. Whether it was
overheard in the Kitchen or whether the Old
Mans irate companion had just then ex-
hausted all other modes Of expressing her
contemptuous indignation l cannot say but
a back door was suddenly slammed with
! great violence. A moment later and the Old
Man reappeared, happily unconscious of the
cause of the late hilarious outburst, and
smiled blandly.
"The old woman thought she'd jest run
over to Mrs McFaddens for sociable cal I"
he explained, with jaunty indifference, as he
took seat at the board
Oddly enough, it needed this untoward in
cident to relieve the embarrassment that was
beginning to be felt by the party, and their
natural audacity returned with their host.
do not propose to record the convivialities of
that evening. The inquisitive reader will ac-
| cept the statement that the conversation was
characterized by the same intellectual exalta-
ton, the same cautious reverence, the same
fastidious delicacy, the same rhetorical pre-
cision and the same logical and coherent dis
course somewhat later in the evening which
distinguish similar gatherings of the mascu-
line sex in more civilized localities and under
more favorable auspices No glasses were
broken, in the absence of any; no liquor
was uselessly split on floor or table, in the
scarcity of that article.
| 1t was nearly midnight when the festivities
were interrupted. "Hush," said Dick Bullen,
holding up his hand 1t was the querulous
voice of Johnny from his adjacent closet:
| %, dad"
! The Old Man arose hurriedly and disap-
! peared in the closet Presently he reappeared.
His rheumatic is coming on agin bad" he
explained, "and he wants rubbin'." He lifted
she demijohn of whisky from the table and
shook it. It was empty. Dick Bullen put
down his tin cup with an embarrassed laugh.
So did the others The Old Man examined
their contents and said, hopefully: II reckon
that's enough; he don't need much. You
hold on all o. you for a spell, and I'll be
back" and vanished in the closet with an old
| flannel shirt and the whisky. The door closed
but imperfectly. and the following dialogue
was distinctly audible:
"Now, sonny, whar does she ache worstr
Sometimes over yer and sometimes under
yer; but it's most powerful from yer to Yer.
Rub yer. dad.n
| A silence seemed to indicate brisk rub
bing. Then Johnny:
"Hevin' a good time out yer, dadl"
ayes, sonny"
"To-morrer's Chrismiss, amt it?"
"Yes, sonny. How does she feel nowi"
| "Better. Rub little furder down. Wot's
Chrismiss, anywayi Wor's it all abouti"
20, it's day."
This exhaustive definition was apparently
satisfactory, for there was q silent interval
of rubbing Presently Johnny again:
"Mar seq that everywhere else but yer
everybody gives things to everybody Chris
miss, and then she jist waded inter you. She
ooyS oHei q Aloh ehoy SoA cohoy SAo"~' uSs
. white man, you know, but . kind
o Chinemin, comes down the chinbley
night afore Chrismiss and gives things
to chillern-boys like me. Puts 'em In their
butes Thct's what she tried to play upon
me- Easy now, pop, whar are you rubin
toi-thets mile from the place She jest
made that up, didn't she, jest to aggrewats
me and youl Don't rub thar. Why,
! dAdg"